Italian Pizzelles

Pizzelles are a traditional Italian cookie that are delicate, slightly sweet and cripsy, with an anise flavor. They are made in a pizzelle maker that kind of resembles a waffle maker but the grids are shallow and have an intricate design that makes the thin, waffle like cookies so beautiful!

This recipe has been in our family for years and while we can’t exactly track down where the recipe originates from (it was given to my PoPo) we have a general idea! After my PoPo graduated college in Boston, she stayed with an Italian family in Maine where she landed her teaching job. Here is where she learned, as a Chinese American, how to cook Italian food!! My PoPo grew up working in her family owned Chinese restaurant, so she had always been an excellent cook and cooking with her now Italian family started to expand her culinary culture. This recipe stems from my PoPo’s “Italian Grandmothers” as she called them and we are very thankful for it!

My mom started making the pizzelles around 9 or 10 years old and has always been the only one to make them!! She remembers going to the North end of Boston with her family around that age and buying the pizzelle maker. I will say the quality of her pizzelle maker is excellent, it was made in Italy and has been used by my mom for over 50 years!!! It basically a heirloom to use now. My mom traditionally makes all of us pizzelles for Christmas, but as her grandkids are now requesting them when they see her, she can’t say no and has been teaching the kids how to make the Italian cookies with her!

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Italian Pizzelles

Ingredients

• 6 eggs

• 1 cup melted butter

• 3 1/2 cups flour

• 1 1/2 cups sugar

• 4 tsp baking powder

• 2 tbsp anise or pure vanilla extract*

Instructions

• Beat eggs, add sugar gradually until smooth. Add cooled melted butter and anise or vanilla extract

• Sift flour and baking powder, add to egg mixture. Dough will be sticky enough to be dropped by spoon. Heat pizzelle maker and add a spoon of dough. Cook according to pizzelle makers instructions

*We use almost a whole 2 ounce bottle of anise, because my mom doesn’t think the extract is made as strong as it used to be made

TIPS:

-Store loosely covered, never cover tightly or it will make cookies too soft

-Try to make on a dry day because cookies tend to stick to the pizzelle maker grids if it is too moist outside

-Serve plain or dusted with powdered sugar

-While hot, pizzelles can be shaped into a cone or rolled into a cylinder shape and filled with your favorite cream filling

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